Let the songs of the first Christmas turn your heart toward God’s glory. During the holidays the musical tunes of the season are everywhere. Their nostalgic melodies warm our hearts. But the original Christmas songs are different; they lift our hearts to a holy God. They reveal the greatness, glory, and goodness of our Savior. Taking us beyond quaint imagery and feel-good lyrics, the Advent songs of the Bible unfold God’s redemptive plan for the world and His eternal purpose for the ages. Reflecting her own love for the season, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth offers meditations on the first two chapters of Luke’s gospel in The First Songs of Christmas. This 31-day Advent devotional shines new light on the ancient yet inspiring songs of Elizabeth, Mary, Zechariah, the angels, and Simeon. These readings will lead you to contemplate the loveliness and essence of Christmas. Let this book be your companion as you spend the days surrounding Christmas the way these men, women, and angels did, your gaze fixed on our great God and Savior.

Christianity Today 2023 Book Award Finalist (Bible & Devotional) Sheltering Mercy helps us rediscover the rich treasures of the Psalms--through free-verse prayer renderings of their poems and hymns--as a guide to personal devotion and meditation. The church has always used the Psalms as part of its prayer life, and they have inspired countless other prayers. This book contains 75 prayers drawn from Psalms 1-75, providing lyrical sketches of what authors Ryan Whitaker Smith and Dan Wilt have seen, heard, and felt while sojourning in the Psalms. While each prayer corresponds to a particular psalm and touches on its themes and ideas, it is not a new translation of the Psalms or an attempt to modernize or contextualize their content or language. Rather, the prayers are responses to the Psalms written in harmony with Scripture. These prayers help us quiet our hearts before God and welcome us into a safe place amid the storms of life. This artful, poetic, and classic devotional book features compelling custom illustrations and beautiful hardcover binding, offering a fresh way to reflect on and pray the Psalms.

Despite the presence of many beautiful Advent songs in many of our hymnals, most of us would prefer to skip right to singing our favorite Christmas carols. But in our rush to get to the joy of Christmas, we forget what Advent is all about--watching and waiting for the coming of a promised king. It is not about shopping, partying, gift wrapping, and vacationing. It is about resting, trusting, praying, and seeking. Through the words of moving Advent hymns and the powerful words of Scripture, Songs for the Waiting will help readers reclaim a sense of the beautiful anticipation and preparation that is central to Advent.

This new sequence of words and music provides the framework for a devotional service and a wide range of choral resources for use during Advent.Structured around the great Advent Atiphons, known as the Great ‘Os’, this service of darkness to light provides readings and music to complement the Antiphons, and help us reflect on the theme of the Chris who comes to judge and save his people.The choral music offers flexibility in a wide range of styles and levels of difficulty for choirs of all standards. Congregational items include established Advent hymns and contemporary worship songs.The Advent Sequence includes music by:• John Barnard• Jon Banks• George Guest• Simon Lole• Peter Moger• David Ogden• Richard ShephardThe Advent Sequence provides a valuable addition to the music and liturgy of Advent for churches of all sizes.

This collection of 52 early Adventist hymns is a revised and enlarged edition of Advent Singing. The book is divided into sections by time periods with an introduction and a list of contents for each segment. A history and stories about each hymn precede the words and music. Contents Millerite Adventist Hymns-1841-1844 Angels Hovering Round I'm a Pilgrim Never Part Again Together Let Us Sweetly Live and more.... Pioneer Sabbath-keeping Adventist Hymns-1845-1863 God of My Life How Far From Home? Land of Light O Brother be Faithful and more.... Early Seventh-day Adventist Hymns-1863-1915 Dare to Be a Daniel Resting By and By There is Sunlight on the Hilltop We Shall Meet Beyond the River and more....

Celebrate a Season of Wonder and Waiting Though the holidays are often jam-packed with busyness, the weeks leading up to Yuletide are still a time to reflect on the miracle of Jesus’s birth. Shadow and Light is a concise and customizable guide for the Advent season to help you rediscover your childlike wonder and contemplate the sacred gift we celebrate in the Christmas season. From bestselling author Tsh Oxenreider, Shadow and Light is a rich yet approachable experience that invites you to explore the historical meaning of Advent. Drawing from liturgical tradition, Tsh provides fresh insights for new and longtime believers alike. Each day includes Scripture, a reflection, a question, and a simple activity to engage the senses, such as lighting candles, listening to music, and viewing artwork both old and new. Let yourself break away from the hustle and bustle of crafts, cookies, and Christmas parties, and receive your invitation to remember the quiet focus of our celebration. Shadow and Light will help you reclaim the holiday season as a time to remember Jesus’s first coming, and to long for his one-day return.

‘Almost before I had begun this wonderful book, I was hooked’ STEPHEN COTTRELL ‘Robyn Wrigley-Carr has produced a masterpiece of insight and wisdom’ CLARION JOURNAL ‘Nourishment for the soul on every page’ AYLA LEPINE, CHURCH TIMES ‘Wrigley-Carr illustrates how Underhill wonderfully unites reflection and prayer’ DANA GREENE Beloved spiritual writer Evelyn Underhill believed that God does not just come to us at special times, but is always coming to us. But how do we recognise his coming and make ourselves open to it? In Music of Eternity, the Archbishop of York’s Advent Book 2021, Robyn Wrigley-Carr shares a series of meditations exploring the nature God’s comings. Skilfully weaving together Underhill’s writings with the psalms and short prayers, she shows how, as Christians, we can embrace God’s coming and be transformed by them in order to better love others. Full of rich warmth and encouragement, these Christian meditations will help you make the most of the Advent season and more able to connect with God at all times. Set out in four parts to take you through Advent and with questions for reflection, the Archbishop of York’s Advent book can be used as a study for individuals or small groups to prepare for Christmas. Music of Eternity will help you find space to deepen your relationship with God, and to understand what Evelyn Underhill called the ‘many-sided truth of God’s perpetual coming to His creatures’.

This treasury of over fifty stories, verses and songs range from Advent through the twelve days of Christmas, ending with the flight to Egypt. The authors draw on their lifelong experience as Waldorf kindergarten educators, storytellers, puppeteers and as mothers to share these magical stories. They tell their favourite Christmas stories simply and profoundly. These stories will both delight young children, and invite parents to become more confident storytellers.

In rhyming text, the author presents an introduction for children and families to the celebration of Advent and the events leading up to Christmas and the birth of Jesus.